Warning: include_once(/home/surtees/designnotes.info/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-support/wordpress-support.php): failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/surtees/designnotes.info/wp-settings.php on line 306

Category: Advertising & Marketing

In response to the chaos that was caused in Boston, Renegade was featured on Nightline last night. Using the Renegade office (where I work) as a backdrop Doug Rushkoff and Renegade CEO Drew Neisser were both interviewed. All in all I thought it was a pretty fair assessment of the stunt and what it may have done to the industry. But take a look for yourself to decide at Nightline Online: Guerrilla Ads Gone Wrong.

I noticed some nice traction yesterday coming from Brazil to DesignNotes. Naturally I followed links to see why there were so many people visiting my blog from that country. ideiaforte had given me a simple via referral to one of my posts. I can’t read portuguese, but ideiaforte is a great site that has a lot to look at. Mostly design, architecture and advertising related, it’s a great source to check out for things online that you may have missed.

Hey look at what’s up with Russell Davies’s blog – it’s a wiki for planners and brand thinkers alike. If that wasn’t enough, this is how he breaks down the process to enter a post. “A few people have already asked questions about policy and ettiquette and I wanted to be clear that the rules are as strict and concise as they are for coffee morning and APSotW ie – just get on with it. Anyone can contribute, you can add whatever you think’s appropriate, don’t worry about breaking it, if you can’t think of anything to add there’s always some tidying up to be done. But, remember this, if you’ve not added anything yourself you’re not allowed to complain about what everyone else has done.” Refreshing.

I try to keep this blog w/ in the realm of design for the most part, but on the night of the NHL All-Star game I thought it would fitting for this post. What you say – the National Hockey League has an All Start game tonight, you’re forgiven if you didn’t know about it. The YouTube video above is from last year’s Oilers vs. Hurricanes Stanley Cup Finals – Game 3 Intro. It’s nine minutes of pure sports passion from Edmonton where I used to live. The whole play off run was unreal. Between the riots on Whyte ave. to the city wide beer shortages, it was unreal. And yes I now hate Chris Pronger…

But that’s not what this post is about, it’s really my disbelief that the NHL sold the idea to Canadian viewers that it was ok for them to not re-sign tv rights to ESPN, and to go with OLN which is now VS. Guess what channels ESPN and ESPN2 is on in New York. They’re 28 and 29. It took me weeks to even discover VS which is on 122. But the big deal is not so much the channel number, it’s the coverage that ESPN now gives hockey. It is so weak that I can’t help but wonder if it has to do w/ the tv rights to some degree. It is almost never mentioned and when it is, it’s one game that is highlighted.

I’m not even going to mention the pain that I have when the only game that is available is from New Jersey. As for hockey promotion in New York, there’s been some commercials for the Rangers that I think hockey fans can appreciate. But for promoting the game to a city as diverse as New York, the NHL is no where to be seen. Why not show the Cup once in a while around the rink at the Rockefeller Center?

As for the Oilers this year, Kim who’s a die hard fan says it best when his MSN message reads this: The Oilers have failed me! I’m short. The End.

Ok, not the end. There’s still hope for the Oilers when you see this goal.

UPDATE: I just realized that I need to have a part 2 of this. The NHL Network vs. the NFL Network channels. I’ve seen both of them and it’s not pretty for the NHL.

black . white . blissblackwhitebliss.blogspot.com/
Trisha’s about statement on her blog is pretty accurate I think: obsession with all things black and white. Most of the blog consists of those type of images

The Charlie Rose Showwww.charlierose.com/
it’s the man and his interviews – there’s a redesign of the site coming soon

Diagramhttp://thediagram.com/
I sort of forgot about this site for a while, but I’m happy I rediscovered it lately. Essentially it’s about diagrams, but presented in a passionate way

Dumbo NYChttp://dumbonyc.com/
I really enjoyed visiting Dumbo a number of months ago, and with Hideyoshi’s blog – I can keep up to date about the neighbourhood

I just received a friendly hello from Ruth at D&AD mentioning that they’ve extended their deadline for the D&AD Global Awards 2007 to Wednesday, 17th January. If you don’t have anything that you feel strongly about this year to submit – it’s good motivation to get your act together and shoot for 2008. All the details about sending your work can be found at http://awards07.dandad.org

It’s not like the colour black has ever been out of vogue. Though it seems this decade that we’re currently in has taken black to a new level of use. Apple uses it, my plasma is all black, 3/4 of my clothing is, and it’s used prominently on a brand or two. But what does that say about the time we’re living in? One of the few design writers that doesn’t talk to people as if they’re in grade one, Alice Rawsthorn’s article Black is back, but in a superglossy way has come out at an appropriate time considering Apple’s iPhone talk. For that matter take a look at all her articles at the International Herald Tribune, they’re all pretty good.

On searching out that perfect chocolate fountain… But the best part was the checkout. As the cashier was ringing me up, she says, “This is twenty bucks? Are there any more left? Because this would be great for my daughter’s wedding.” I laughed and told her there were. Then the guy in line behind me starts asking questions. “How much was that? Twenty dollars? What kind of chocolate goes in it? And twenty dollars? Hold on, ma’am, I’m just gonna run back.” She goes, “Hey, can you get one for me too?”

I couldn’t help but notice the speed and coincidence of two books that are making the tv news circuit these days. Both books Made to Stick and Citizen Marketers have blogs, and more recently have been on tv. I only knew this b/c I’ve been visiting their sites and have been reading their self hype. Each blog site is listing where they’ve been with links to media clips. It’s an interesting progression that is only going to get louder as authours and marketers have the latitude to write whatever they want without recourse except for their time. I also wonder if the video links would be as readily available if google had not spent the money they did on youtube…

After listening to the Work-Life Balance Podcast panel discussion hosted by New Media BC at the Vancouver Film School, I was left with more confusion then certainty about how important balance is. On one side the seven panelists from varying sized design and agency’s (and one law firm) within Vancouver extolled the virtues of working hard w/ limits, but on the other hand sharing stories about how hard they worked. Also, most of the panelists were major stakeholders in their companies, as opposed to a designer or art director trying to make the design leap within a studio environment. So in a way the discussion seemed slightly biased when people were extolling the virtues of balance, yet I guessing that if you’re going to get anywhere in a successful studio you need to work your ass off. So the discussion offered more questions than answers, which makes sense when you have to decide what you want to accomplish with your time.

This year for Renegade’s annual season greetings to clients and friends we’ve all contributed to a google api that shows all the places we luv to visit in New York. You can see it for yourself at http://isawny.com/

Sara Cantor and her blog the Curious Shopper talk about the experience of selling from a booth for the first time at Lessons from the other side.

Lesson 1: Don’t stare at shoppers. Don’t even look at them. Forget what you know about manners. Don’t smile at anyone. It only freaks them out. Don’t even make eye contact. At all. Resist the urge to watch the endless parade of fascinating people walking by your booth…

There were whips, paddles, a suitcase full of money, dance revolution, twister and the opportunity to smear your rear! All of this combined to make the annual Renegade party which was themed as the chance to go back to University with the SawRority. If your kind of curious to see the evidence, you can head on over to my flickr set to see the mayhem first hand.

Everyone gets spam, but if you blog you’ll also get spam entries for your blog. From time to time I’ll get some comments that are spam, but I wonder if I should let them get posted b/c they’re just so nice. It’s funny how the bots think that if they give a complementary gesture, the odds of getting posted are better. Some of the more recent posts that I’ve sadly had to deny include:

First time here on your site. I am delighted to find your wonderful website online.

Your post is on target. Keep it up….

Thank you, I could not have sead it better my self….

Very good web site

Hi! Very Good Site! Keep Doing That!

Very well! Your site is neat!

Like what you have to say. Your blog makes good since to me….

Exelent! Good work!

You have a great page!

One of the best locations I’ve come across lately!!! Definately a permanent bookmark!

I’m glad I found your site! It’s nice!

Amazing artwork! This is spectacularly done!

Good site, nice design!

Hi people! Great job!

I mean, how could you really argue with these comments? Sadly there’s more text that corresponds with the entry that aren’t exactly appropriate.

I haven’t picked the book Citizen Marketers yet, but it does sound interesting. On their Church of the Customer Blog they describe the book as this: “Citizen Marketers” is all about social media and how it’s fostering the growth of amateur culture. The early adopters of social media are at the forefront of a societal shift that’s rapidly changing the nature of marketing, public relations and corporate communications. The traditional era of one-way message delivery taught in business schools and practiced for decades by all manner of business is being supplanted by two-way and multiple-way message delivery, where everyday people are the messengers as well as the message itself.

Everyone gets spam, but if you blog you’ll also get spam entries for your blog. From time to time I’ll get some comments that are spam, but I wonder if I should let them get posted b/c they’re just so nice. It’s funny how the bots think that if they give a complementary gesture, the odds of getting posted are better. Some of the more recent posts that I’ve sadly had to deny include:

First time here on your site. I am delighted to find your wonderful website online.

Your post is on target. Keep it up….

Thank you, I could not have sead it better my self….

Very good web site

Hi! Very Good Site! Keep Doing That!

Very well! Your site is neat!

Like what you have to say. Your blog makes good since to me….

Exelent! Good work!

You have a great page!

One of the best locations I’ve come across lately!!! Definately a permanent bookmark!

I’m glad I found your site! It’s nice!

Amazing artwork! This is spectacularly done!

Good site, nice design!

Hi people! Great job!

I mean, how could you really argue with these comments? Sadly there’s more text that corresponds with the entry that aren’t exactly appropriate.

“Having spent decades deriding singletons as losers with all the social skills of a rock, advertisers now want to make friends with those of us with just the one toothbrush in our bathroom. And it’s not just because, with no family to support, single people are wont to fill their empty lives with pointless new purchases. Being on your own is now, apparently, an aspiration.”

This is unoffically Sweden appreciation month here on my blog. Alexandra who happens to be from Sweden passed me on this commercial for Apoteket. What’s beautiful is that it works in any language. You can watch the video at http://media.resume.se/resPlayer.aspx?type=1&id=196

NYC is funny w/ time. Some days time flies so quickly and other times it just stops. Last night was one of those nights where I thought I was at the Art Directors Club Young Guns for hours, but when I looked at my watch as I left I had only been there for about an hour and a half. The event itself wasn’t boring at all, I’m just saying that time in NYC is not like it is elsewhere.

It seemed like everyone had a pretty good time, there didn’t seem to be the stiffness that usually follows a design show w/ stuff on the walls. I saw one winner with a lot of family supporters. It was impossible to miss how proud they all were of him. It really was quite the moment to witness.

The event was also relaxed, it didn’t feel like a pressure cooker. Tamara mentioned that it might have been due to the fact that no one had name tags on. Once a name tag goes up, it becomes a different type of event. It may have also been relaxed b/c of the free flowing wine and beer. It’s hard to say.

The work itself was interesting – lot’s of energy. I’m not sure if the style really suited what I do, but all of it was cool to look at. There was one diy poster that I was particularly fond of…

It’s really amazing how quick things can happen in NYC. On Tuesday I went to an event that the D&AD were putting on for the first time in North America. Afterwards I talked with Laura Woodroffe who helped organize the event. During that conversation I thought it would be cool for D&AD to come visit Renegade (where I work) to talk about the organization. Two days later D&AD was in the studio. Laura brought two others, Ruth Metcalf and Rebecca Rollin both from D&AD. They showed us their Black Pencil reel and the 2006 Yellow pencil awards reel. They also talked about the three parts that make up the organization: Excellence, Education and Enterprise. This week long tour was one of the first of it’s kind in North America for D&AD. By the sounds of it, they will be making an annual event that possibly would be their awards exhibit and Professional Development sessions – hopefully starting in NYC. I know it was a great experience for all of us at Renegade and we thank Laura, Ruth and Rebecca for coming to share their passion for D&AD. For more info on D&AD check out their site at http://www.dandad.org/

This diagram isn’t really illustrating anything but the obvious, but it’s a good reminder of where eyes seem to go on a website. The darker the colour, the hotter the real-estate is. You can read more about “Where should I place Google ads on my pages?” at https://www.google.com/adsense/

Last night Unbeige through a pretty good party in New York. People seemed friendly and I thought I recognized a face or two. Sadly I loaned my camera to a friend on the weekend and they forgot to bring it back to work Monday – so no photos of the party. However I’m sure there will be some images floating around that interweb soon enough.

I don’t have a car anymore, and if I did get a new one it probably wouldn’t be a Beetle. But I think they’re on to something with their custom graphic idea. You have four options and can choose different colours etc. You can print the info off and get more info about your new car. You can give this site a test run at http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/beetle_art/flash/

Above is the first vid. from Wallstrip, a new web show that talks about one company in depth for just a couple minutes in terms of investment through normal talk. Once you get to the site there’s lots of ways to keep track of the site afterwards – easy rss, podcast, link buttons and the ability to embed text. I’m just curious to see how they will archive their info after a couple months…

Above is the first vid. from Wallstrip, a new web show that talks about one company in depth for just a couple minutes in terms of investment through normal talk. Once you get to the site there’s lots of ways to keep track of the site afterwards – easy rss, podcast, link buttons and the ability to embed text. I’m just curious to see how they will archive their info after a couple months…

I don’t think one could be faulted for wondering if book publisher’s are doing all they can in this day when electronic tools can add a lot of value to a book. Publishing on demand hasn’t really taken off, nor has mainstream pdf’s of books. And then there’s audio books – why is there zero interactivity available with the electronic file? How about a book’s website, things are usually less than compelling for me to want to investigate any further?

What has impressed me though over the last two weeks has been some e-mail that I’ve received from an author’s studio and the website amazon. After talking about a “Zag” and “Whatever you think, think the opposite” on this blog, I recently got an e-mail telling me that the book Zag has finally come out (ironically I had purchased the book two days before the e-mail) and amazon telling me that since I liked Paul Arden’s books, maybe I’d like Adrian Shaughnessy’s new one. Yes, this type of e-mail could be considered spam, but on the other hand it also suggests that publishers and others really starting to make the most of opportunities with people online that are talking about books. There’s also the choice of publisher’s sending books out for review before the public sees them. I’ve received a couple of those and I plan to write a more reflective review once I’ve completed them.

Before I go into my thoughts about the AIGA NY’s Your AD Here talk, I want to make clear that the criticism is not directed to those that organized the event. I’ve been there where you put a lot of time and effort into a talk and the volunteers hope that at the end of the night the audience has gone home with some new ideas…

I’ve never left a design lecture early, but I did tonight for the first time. I think there’s at least three reasons that I can point to my disappointment – though there’s probably a lot more. 1. The moderator asked irrelevant questions, 2. some of the panelists provided irrelevant answers, 3. maybe I am looking for inspiration at the wrong talks – yeah, I wish I went to the Henry Jenkins and Steven Johnson conversation at the Museum of the Moving Image.

The panel was moderated by Randall Rothenberg with Jane Hope, Gary Koepke, Neil Powell, and Brian Collins. I had a couple expectations going into the talk – I wanted to hear something new, how they applied “it”, and to answer the basic premise of what forward-thinking integrated marketing solutions are. I really didn’t get any of that tonight. It was disappointing but true that this talk could have easily happened ten years ago which suggested to me that four of the five people on stage might not really be interacting with what is going on today outside of their own fish bowl. The reason why I would single Brian out was that I think he is the only person on the panel that could claim that people have blogged and just talked about a campaign that truly made people believe in something that he was a part of. That something of course is the Dove campaign that many, many people have talked about. I don’t think it was lost on anyone that people clapped when he asked if anyone had heard of the campaign. I hesitate to use the word campaign as it is more than just that. Each of the other people got a brief chance to mention a campaign that they were proud of: a phone company in Canada (Telus), a SUV company (Hummer), and a beer that I’ve never drank. Now, which one would you want to be associated with?

If there was one thing to take away from the talk, it is those that are taking an active role in communication today have a real chance to win big soon. It is only a matter of time before those that are really stirring things up and asking the right questions are going to be able to talk with those in business who understand that what worked ten years ago will not work today and tomorrow.

Every once is a while I’ll go over why I design, and how I work to accomplish that. Last night I asked my self what e x a c t l y is my process for design and this is what made sense to me…

The reason why I have a passion for design is that it gives me the chance to create better interactions through thinking and execution. My process is a mix of rational steps and practical applications. Looking at what needs to be accomplished I’ll ask what the end goal is and why and work backwards. Through a lot of questions a number of options open up. Through visualization of those answers from the questions, ideas and testing – a solution materializes. There’s more testing, putting it up to see what sticks and moving on to tweak it and see it live. The beauty and curse of the web is that nothing ever ends, but just grows and evolves over time, so it’s important to get feedback on what’s working and why some things aren’t so they can be changed when appropriate.